State Gazette Coach of the Year for Dyer County High School: Lady Choctaw Volleyball and Softball's Shanna O'Bright

Lady Choctaw softball and volleyball head coach Shanna O’Bright has been named the State Gazette Coach of the Year for Dyer County High School.

Photos/Jason Peevyhouse

By JASON PEEVYHOUSE

Sports Editor

Getting their team to the state tournament is one of the goals every head coach sets for themselves at the start of a season. Reaching those brackets, though, is something only eight teams can do in most sports in the TSSAA.

For the past few years, Dyer County's Shanna O'Bright has been very successful at being one of those eight teams. And, not just in one sport but both volleyball and softball. This past season, for the second time in three years, both of those Lady Choctaw squads reached the state tournament in their respective sports. In leading two teams to the state tournament this past season, Lady Choctaw Head Coach Shanna O'Bright has been named the State Gazette Coach of the Year for Dyer County High School.

“Coach O is very deserving of this award,” Dyer County Super Intendant Cheryl Mathis said. “To have her energy, enthusiasm and work ethic in one sport is a lot, but to be able to carry that into a second sport is phenomenal!”

As Mathis pointed out, these traits for O'Bright at not just limited to the volleyball court and softball field.

“She not only has this love and dedication for sports, she also has it in the classroom where she teaches Algebra I to our students,” Mathis added. “Her drive yields great results in all that she does!”

Last fall, despite obstacles including an injury to a key player, O'Bright coached the Lady Choctaw volleyball team to it's third straight District 13AA Championship on the way to a three-peat as the region champion. The postseason run on the west side of the Tennessee River culminated in a three-set sweep in the sectional round against Millington to send Dyer County to the state tournament for the third straight season.

Dyer County has won all three district, region, and sectional championships since moving to Class AA in 2021.

“Coach O’Bright is very deserving of this honor,” Dyer County High School Athletic Director Chris Parker said. “It is very difficult to accomplish what she has accomplished with one team, but to have the level of success she has had consecutively with two different teams is amazing.

“She is a huge asset to our school, and we are very proud of all that her and her teams have accomplished.”

As dominant as the Lady Choctaw volleyball team has been for the past three seasons on this side of the Tennessee River, the Dyer County softball team has been a name which comes up when people talk about potential state teams for the past several years.

This past spring, Dyer County took a bit of an unconventional route to it's sixth state tournament appearance since 2017.

In what has turned into one of the tougher and more especially competitive districts in the TSSAA, Dyer County finished this past season in a four-way tie for first place. The tiebreaker allowed the Lady Choctaws the district's regular season championship as well as the right to host the District 13AAA Tournament in Newbern.

The Lady Choctaws lost early in the bracket but battled back to eliminate both Dyersburg and Crockett County to advance to the district championship game. Though the Lady Choctaws lost to South Gibson in the finals, Dyer County moved on the Region 7AAA Tournament, dominating Bolivar in the semifinals before losing again to South Gibson in the Region 7AAA Championship Game.

This sent Dyer County to former District 13AAA rival Brighton for the Class AAA Sectional Round for what turned into one of better games across the high school sports world locally during the entire year. The Lady Choctaws and Lady Cardinals played to a 1-1 tie through nine innings before Dyer County scored two in the top of the tenth to punch their ticket to the state tournament.

At the Class AAA State Tournament, the Lady Choctaws dropped the opener to Lexington, 1-0, then rallied to win three straight games and played to a tied second game against eventual state runner-up Carter in the state semifinals before falling 6-2.

Throughout her career at Dyer County High School, O'Bright has led three teams to state in volleyball and six in softball. In both of these cases, neither team had reached the state tournament before O'Bright's tenure began.